


changes before the dawn

by hariboo



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-06
Updated: 2012-03-06
Packaged: 2017-11-02 04:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/364746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hariboo/pseuds/hariboo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>she can't sleep. it's different in this room. the ceiling has stars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	changes before the dawn

After dinner Rukia makes her way to Ichigo's room without a thought. Her feet follow old their old habits and she has her hand tight around the doorknob when she remembers it's not her—their—room anymore. She has a bed waiting for her in the twins' room, a thin hospital bed that Isshin pulled out of storage, rolled into the room for her, and squished it into the space between Karin and Yuzu's beds. It's a nice gesture, a kind one, and one she really should have seen coming. 

Of course Isshin would put her in the girls room. He had no reason to think she would have preferred another room who's space and shape she already knew, that smelled familiar and comforting. That she thought as hers too.

She had joked with Ichigo about getting a new lamp for the closet, but they had both known what she meant. She had brought her things this time. It wasn't a circumstantial necessity for her to live hidden in the room making sure nothing showed she was there. It was different this time. Now she could have—she had brought her _personal_ things this time. She had carefully picked things out that would fit in the slots left by his. She had thought about how her dresses would look next to his shirts.

These things that now laid in a box under the bed in Karin and Yuzu's room and squished in a closet already shared by two. 

Rukia's finger clench on the knob. 

She can't walk into the room now. 

Her fingers clench on the door knob and release. She sighs, she had really hoped they could have stopped sneaking her in and out. Turning, she heads into the twins' room and smiles when the second she's in she's bombarded with questions about how they can rearrange the room to make all three of them fit comfortably. Never once is the smile forced or faked; it might not have been what she had expected, coming back, but she really did miss the house and sounds. When Yuzu comments on her Chappy The Bunny slippers and how cute they are, Rukia grins. 

 

—

 

That first night is both the easiest and the worst, in retrospect. 

She can't sleep. It's different in this room. The ceiling has stars.

The fight with the Arrancar weighs on her and even though Orihime healed her injury, she still rubs at her chest. She frowns thinking how she's accumulating chest wounds. When Orihime heals there are no scars, Rukia's noticed, not like the slight ones left even by the most skilled of the Fourth, save probably Unohana-sama. It's as if the girl erased the injury from Rukia's body, but not the memory or the phantom ache. Rukia still has a scar from the Sokyoku Hill and she thinks she should have another one tonight. Her palm touches one scar, but she thinks of two.

To her left, Karin lets out a snore and turns, burying her face in her pillow, arm flung over the edge of the bed. Rukia's cheeks twitch reminded of someone else that does that. Yuzu is breathing low and heavy on her bed. Only when exhausted does Ichigo sleep so soundly.

Rukia stares at the fading glow of the stars tacked on the roof. She thinks of what Ichigo's reaction would be if she ever followed his sisters example on their— _his_ ceiling. It going to take some getting used to the change in rooms.

Her hands pick at the edges of her bed. 

Yuzu and Karin are asleep. 

Rukia shifts on the bed. Her feet are cool on the floor.

 

—

 

He's not asleep.

She didn't think he'd be. He never does after fights—unless, he's knocked out and even then his reiatsu hums restless around him. There are few times he ever calms downs enough for his reiastu to not spill wildly around him. 

Her hand touches his chest. The tension in his shoulders lessens. It's not gone though, just like her's isn't. 

"Rukia," he turns to face her, "you're in the wrong room." The lopsided smile he gives her is a dim and pale imitation of his normal one. His brow is smooth, but the edges of his lips are tight.

"Your sisters have glow in the dark stars on their ceiling."

"I know. Who do you think helped put them there?"

On his chest, his hand covers her. There are a few cuts on it. He didn't let Orihime heal them. Rukia's turns her hand under his so they're pressed palm to palm and then curls her fingers around his hand. A shimmer of blue light covers their joined hand. 

"You didn't get these healed."

The cuts close. 

He shrugs. Since he's still laying down and it shifts the pillow under his head.

"How are you?" His eyes drop to the neckline of her pyjamas, studies it, and flick up to meet hers. 

Her free hand drifts to her scars, visible and invisible. Fingers close over the edge of the cotton.

She shrugs. 

"I thought you were dead," he says, his other hand moves and the tips of his fingers, even more calloused than she remembers them, touch her wrist. 

Rukia rolls her eyes, lets her smirk start growing, "Techni—" 

Ichigo's hand close over her wrist and he pulls her down next to him. The last half of her word gets muffled by his shoulder where she can see more than a few bruises growing. 

"Don't be a smart ass," he says, his breath hot by her temple.

"Idiot." She mutters, nudging him with her knee.

They shift and find their spaces again. His bed hasn't really changed and they still fit the same. The silence that follows is old and familiar. He still has a habit to curl around her body, wrapping one leg around hers, one arm over her waist, but always facing her. Always facing her, it's important this detail. Their joined hands are now tucked between their bodies and Rukia tilts her chin up to look into his eyes. Her other hand trails his jaw. 

"You should get some sleep."

"They were strong."

"Ichigo."

"I need to get stronger."

She sighs, pulling his head down and lets their lips touch as she says, "Then you will." _We will._

Ichigo touches their foreheads, she feels more than sees his nod. There's something else in his eyes, something more than just worry and determination, but the day, the night, the fight all starts to catch up with her and her eyes close. 

In the morning, Rukia stretches as she feels the sunrise start to colour the room, and swats at Ichigo as he presses a kiss to her forehead. He chuckles and calls her a grouch; she swats at him again. Then his presence is gone and Rukia doesn't think too much about how his voice sounded or how his hand trailed her side until she's coming out of the bathroom and Isshin and Yuzu are looking at her, asking where he has gone.

Rukia thinks she should have swatted him harder and the runs out of the making a promise to Yuzu she already knows will be difficult to keep.

 

—

 

The second night she can't sleep at all and stands on the roof.

He's not in their — _his_ room and she can't sense where he is. It's than worse trying to sleep in the room alone than sleeping in down the hall with this knowledge. Karin heavy breaths and Yuzu silent tears, tucked into the corners of her eyes dampening her pillow case, make Rukia more nervous and restless because if there's any people Ichigo would never forgive himself for hurting it is his sisters. Isshin is worried too, but there's something about the man and how he's acting that picks at Rukia's nerves. 

He always says he doesn't worry about Ichigo but she knows how Kurosakis lie. She tries not to dwell on how she knows this.

The third night she runs into Orihime outside Uruhara's and when she rushes after her friend after the strange girl takes her she's shocked to find herself stopped by a warehouse where she can feel Ichigo's reiatsu buried under layers of power and shielding. His reiatsu is in flux and she thinks back to the last time she felt it like this. Sokyoku Hill, his hollow. Her eyes widen as she can't get past the barrier and she thinks back to how he held her to him, his arm curving over her back last night.

_I need to get stronger._

His words sounded so heavy.

"Idiot," Rukia shakes her head, her hair brushing against her face, as she touches her fist to the barrier. "At least I left a note."

When Orihime comes out Rukia doesn't need any of the answers her friend could offer. She already knows.

_I need to get stronger._

_We will._   



End file.
